Party Preserves Climbing Spaces

A rockin’ party is brewing in Atlanta. Bring together about 2,000 climbers and a variety of glow sticks at the biggest climbing gym in the country (don’t forget to add some high-profile climbers and sweet climbing swag) and you get the Rock & Rave at Stone Summit Climbing and Fitness Center where partiers will climb, race, eat, drink and rave to their heart’s content.

Stone Summit Climbing and Fitness Center

“It’s going to be one heck of a party,” says Rock & Rave chairman John Juraschek. “This will be the biggest event in climbing in 2013, and it’s all being put on by fellow climbers.” Proclaimed as the “largest climbing Access Fundraiser party in history,” the event will raise money to benefit the Access Fund, the Southeastern Climbers Coalition and the Carolina Climbers Coalition in their combined endeavors to preserve prime climbing space in the region, like the Hospital Boulders in Gadsden, Ala., recently acquired by the SCC and the Access Fund.

“The goal is to raise $50,000,” Juraschek says. “The Southeastern Climbers Coalition and the Carolina Climbers Coalition are the two most active groups in the country that are trying to preserve these climbing areas.” The money will mainly be raised through ticket sales before the event and raffles and auctions during the event. Sponsors like Mellow Mushroom, which is donating a huge amount of pizza for the party, have already given generously to cover expenses, and Juraschek says he hopes that more sponsors will help out so that as much of the proceeds as possible can go toward the climbing organizations.

Not only will climbers get to benefit their most beloved sport, but the party will rock hard … literally. Attendees will get to know the faces of well-known climbers, including Chris Sharma, a renowned rock climber flying in from Spain just for the Rock & Rave event; Hans Florine, who holds the record for the fastest climbing time on Yosemite’s El Capitan; and emcee Kurt Smith, a well-known and accomplished climber who discovered the limestone walls of El Potrero Chico in Mexico for climbing, establishing countless first ascents.